Effects of Antianxiety Drug and Personality on Stress‐Inducing Psychomotor Performance Test

Abstract

The effects of an antianxiety drug was studied in relation to personality characteristics on a psychomotor performance test. Healthy women college students (48) were chosen as having either high or low levels of trait anxiety, neuroticism or extroversion. Subjects with high trait anxiety and/or neuroticism tended to show a decrease in both speed and accuracy of the mirror drawing test (MDT) in the initial nondrug trials. Bromazepam, 5 mg, a benzodiazepine derivative, decreased this decrement in highly anxious subjects but worsened the speed in less anxious subjects. The personality traits of subjects and the degree to which a performance test will induce stress, must be considered when evaluating the effects of antianxiety drugs on the performance of normal volunteers. The clinical anxiety-reducing efficacy of drugs may be predicted by using the MDT in subjects with high levels of anxiety and/or neuroticism.